President Mahama cuts sod for $100m Nkrumah Circle Interchange
The Government would soon expand the Tema Motorway into a six-lane with an interchange at the Tema roundabout, President John Dramani Mahama announced on Monday.
The expansion, he explained, would help ease traffic congestion and avoid the numerous crashes along the road.
President Mahama made the announcement when he broke the grounds for the commencement of work on the three-tier Kwame Nkrumah Circle interchange in Accra.
The project which is expected cost $100 million is funded by a credit facility from the Brazilian government and the government of Ghana is expected to be completed in two years.
Apart from providing an ultra-modern interchange in the city, an ambulance centre, fire station and a police station would also be built under the interchange to cater for emergencies and criminal activities within the vicinity.
President Mahama said apart from that project, government would also change the Accra-Kumasi road into a dual carriage way in the coming years to reduce the perennial traffic congestion between the two cities.
He said efforts were also being made to increase rail and sea transport under the multi-modal transport policy to give commuters more choices in the transport industry.
He appealed to motorists and passengers plying the Circle road to cooperate with the contractors and security agencies during the execution of the circle interchange as it was likely to inconvenience them for the next two years.
Alhaji Amidu Sulemena, Minister for Roads and Highways, said the contract would also cater for the needs of 15 bus terminals in the catchment area to re-organise the haphazard system in the area.
He said there would be organised bus stations, landscaping, pedestrian walkways and other measures that would help prevent the usual flooding in the area after every rainfall.
Madam Irene Vida Gala, Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, said the provision of the facility amplified the cordial relations that had over the years existed between Brazil and Ghana and pledged to take the relations a step higher.
She gave the assurance that the Brazilian contractors working on the project would also offer Technical expertise to their Ghanaian counterparts in the course of the work.
Source: GNA